autumn*apple picking*and filling a canning pantry

Happy day, friends. Today is the Autumnal Equinox! Yesterday we met some friends at a local orchard to pick apples. Sadly due to a devastating frost we experienced in late May the apples in our area are scarce. The orchard we visited yesterday said they lost 90% of their crop. But the weather was lovely and the company was fantastic and it was overall a whole lot of fun!

 {I remembered to charge my camera battery the evening before but I forgot to put the battery back into the camera. Boo. Thank goodness for smart phone cameras, I suppose}

We collectively picked two 22 pound bushels of apples and split them up. I brought home approximately 10 pounds of golden delicious apples from the orchard and stopped at a little fruit and veggie stand on the way home and bought 24 pounds of organic gala apples. Applesauce, pie filling and apple butter production begins tomorrow! I also bought 3.5 pounds of peppers from the kind folks at the orchard. And I harvested 1/2 pound from my own garden the morning before. I am planning a big batch of candied jalapenos for the pantry and will make fresh jalapeno poppers with the leftovers.



 

Speaking of the pantry it is slowly but sure filling up. This is the most recent photo taken last month. I have added a few more items since then. We have preserved our entire garden this year - canning, freezing and drying everything in sight! I have been roasting tomatoes and garlic one pan at a time and freezing them so I can make one huge batch of sauce. Over the next few days I will post recipes for the things I have made this year  - for my reference and yours! My family has a new favorite jam and I cannot wait to share it with you!

 

Happy harvest, loves! I hope you are enjoying this magical time of year as much as I am! xo

 

 

 



inspired mama*sunday

yesterday i cleaned the house. like scrub floors, wash windows, dust shelves, wipe walls - that kind of cleaning up. 

today i grocery shopped, kid-free, then returned home and baked 1 chocolate zucchini-coconut cake and 4 loaves of zucchini bread for the freezer. i prepped salads and sides for our weekly menu. i cut copious amounts of fruit for breakfast smoothies. i brewed tea for new batches of kombucha, started a fresh pitcher of cold brewed iced coffee and made a jar of simple syrup to sugar it up a bit.

i cleaned up after each creation so my kitchen looks sweet and smells even sweeter. however the rest of the house looks like mama took the day off and let a bunch of wild turkeys roam the rooms. sticky doorknobs, sticky floors {big thanks to homemade ice pops!}, an emptied knitting bag {grumble} and toy cars from here to there and everywhere in between. i maybe-might just ignore it all until tomorrow. with exception to my knitting bag...

in other news i have decided that i am going to lose 20 pounds {i am super serious this time} and am already down 5. woohoo! a few diet modifications {less snacking and self medicating with food. ahem} and lots of walking, hooping, yoga and urban farm girl chores. go me. if when i reach my goal i am buying a new wardrobe. you have been warned inspired daddy.

crock pot honey greek yogurt :: a tutorial

 there are tutorials and recipes for crock pot yogurt all over the internet right now. after reading a couple, er, a dozen of them yesterday i decided to dabble a little and see if i could get this to work for me. after all incubating yogurt in a crock pot makes perfect sense, right? everything went well though it took me a lot  longer than i expected, partly because i was experimenting some and also because my little crock pot is pretty basic and definitely not top of any line. so i changed a few things to suit my needs and wrote up a quick tutorial so you can give it a try too!

CROCK POT HONEY GREEK YOGURT

 gather your ingredients. you will need ::

1/2 gallon (8 cups) of milk. i used 2% but it my understanding any will work. in my yogurt making experience the higher the fat content the richer and creamier the yogurt.

1/4-1/2 cup starter yogurt. i had approximately 1/4 cup of our favorite honey greek yogurt left so that is what i used. make sure your starter yogurt has live cultures in it. after your homemade yogurt is done you will save a half cup of it to add to your next batch and so on.

3/4 cup honey.

the process is pretty simple - you will need to slowly heat the milk to 180 degrees, or until it is hot and steamy and just below a boil. the first batch in my crock pot on low heat took 3.5 hours to reach this point! instead of waiting the second time i preheated my crock by turning it to low and putting the lid on, then i heated the milk in a sauce pan over med-low heat on the stove until it was hot enough. just be careful not to scald your milk otherwise your yogurt will have a charred taste. no good.

once it has reached the proper temp pour it into the warm crock and let it cool uncovered until it is 110 degrees or you can do the finger test - the milk should be very warm but not hot. it took about 90 minutes for mine to cool. at this point i scooped a cup out and stirred my starter yogurt into it then added the cup back to the crock. now it is time to add the flavoring - i whisked in 3/4 cup of raw honey.

next you will put the lid on the crock and carefully wrap it in a heavy towel or better yet, a wool blanket, and place it in the oven and let it sit, undisturbed, for 8-9 hours. this is the incubation period. if you plan your yogurt making right you can pop it in the oven just before bed and let it sit over night. when it is time remove it from the oven and take a peek inside - you should have yogurt! refrigerate for a couple hours and move on to "greeking" your yogurt.

time to transform that yummy but runny yogurt into the thick, creamy treat we all love!

you will line a colander with a couple layers of cheesecloth - i used some organic cotton gauze that i had hanging out in my studio. i can rinse it out after each batch and use it over and over! set your lined colander in a bowl and make sure the bottom of the colander sets high enough that it will not rest in the liquid that drains off. scoop your yogurt into the colander and cover it up (my crock pot lid fit perfect!) and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. you can check on it periodically until it has reached a thickness you prefer.

that's it! you just replicated your favorite honey greek yogurt! yay! my batch nearly filled the 32 ounce container in the photo. we ate it for lunch with homemade strawberry jam mixed in. 

and that suspicious looking yellow liquid in the mason jar, that is what drained off the yogurt. it is called whey and can be used for all sorts of things so don't toss it! you can use it in place of milk or water when baking. it can be made into ricotta cheese. i have read that soaking oats or beans in whey will make them cook faster. and apparently plants and chickens LOVE this stuff so that is likely what mine will be used for this time.

here are a few ideas i came up with for flavoring future batches of yogurt ::

vanilla

vanilla-honey

lemon extract and raw sugar

maple syrup

...

so there you have it! please let me know if you give this a try! and i am also open to more flavoring suggestions.

happy yogurt making, friends!

doughnuts in a hurry*

 this day started out a bit hustle-y and bustle-y as we attempted to catch up on neglected chores {i blame the sunshine} 

wash the blankets and sheets, make the beds, sweep the floors, scrub the dishes, water the plants, pick up the toys... the sweet promise of cinnamon-sugar doughnuts when we finished our tasks made the busy morning smooth sailing.

doughnuts in a hurry ::

refrigerator biscuits, make a hole in each center {i used a 44 north shot glass made by my glass cutting hubby} heat a couple tablespoons of coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat, fry each doughnut until golden brown, dip each side in melted butter then coat in cinnamon-sugar. eat while hot. yum, yum, yum!

they received an enthusiastic thumbs up from the little folks at my table. 

happy saturday, friends! xo

linking up with gingerbread's sweet saturday post! go check it out!

shelf life

new books... LoVe!!

i have had food on my mind quite a lot lately. first there is this challenge that inspired me in a big way. on november 1st, with the company of some local friends, i started my own food challenge based on what i read on the real food website. i have stumbled a couple times - i ate birthday cake at a friends house a week ago and then again when niko turned 15 on friday. i also ate homemade pizza that had white flour in the crust, again an offering from a friend. and i am having a heck of a time giving up the sweet, sugary peppermint syrup that peps up my morning coffee. but overall it is going well.

in addition to the wonderful real food my body has been enjoying i have also been drinking a quart of green smoothie a day. it isn't hard really, since i love them!! here are my current favorite green combinations ::

1 bunch of kale
1.5 cups strawberries
1.5 cups peaches
pinch of cinnamon
dash of vanilla
2 cups water

and

1 cup strawberries
2 frozen bananas
2 handfuls of spinach
2 cups of water

lately i have been buying frozen fruit, i am just very careful to avoid the varieties with liquid sugar added. each shopping day i peel a big bunch of bananas, cut them into to chunks and freeze them in a zip lock bag. they add just a bit more frostiness to our creations. harper likes a little splash of grape juice in his. i suspect it is the color of the juice that he likes more than anything.

local food is also consuming my thoughts recently. we have tossed the idea of backyard chickens around in the past but now the discussion is becoming more of a plan. i have been reading the backyard homestead while i sit and nurse the baby and am getting quite excited about our future egg bearing flock. there is also a chapter about bee keeping (tony said "no!") and how to raise goats (tony said "expletive NO!")

in the midst of all of my thinking and reading and blending and eating our little luca is ready to sample his very first solid food! i am still trying to decide what to start him on. it will likely be avocado or egg yolk and we will wait until later in the week to make sure daddy is home to join the fun. here are a few more fun luca stats ::
♥ he is now 6 months and 1 week old
♥ he just cut his 3rd tooth and the 4th is almost here
♥ he can sit unassisted and play with his toys

until next time...
life is delicious! go enjoy it, friends!